Falling pants lead to man’s arrest on drug charges

BANGOR, Maine — A 58-year-old Hampden man who led police on a car chase, then a brief foot chase Wednesday night is back behind bars one week after completing a 15-month jail sentence for cocaine trafficking.

The suspect’s attempted flight to freedom ended abruptly when his pants fell down around his ankles, causing him to fall to the ground, police said Thursday.

Glenn Watson, who was released from jail on April 7, became the subject of a joint investigation by Bangor police and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency after city police received a tip Wednesday evening that Watson was selling cocaine from a Bangor motel room. City police officers assigned to MDEA were called in to co-ordinate. MDEA agents put Watson’s motel room under surveillance and when Watson left, agents asked Bangor police to stop the car.

According to a joint news release by Bangor police Sgt. Paul Edwards and MDEA Division Commander Darrell Crandall, Bangor police Officer Jamie Fanning was near Interstate 95 and Union Street when she spotted Watson’s vehicle. Though she activated her blue lights as the vehicle turned from Union Street onto Sixteenth Street, Watson did not pull over.

Fanning reported that when she activated her police siren, Watson continued on, running a red light, then speeding down Ohio Street at speeds clocked at 55 to 60 mph. From Ohio Street, the pursuit turned onto Boynton Street, then around the block back to Ohio Street, where it continued through a red light at Hammond and Ohio, according to Fanning. Watson then turned onto High Street, again at speeds of 55 to 60 mph, police said.

The car chase ended when Watson failed to negotiate a sharp turn on High Street and crashed his vehicle into a parked car, Fanning wrote. No one was injured.

Watson then got out of his vehicle. According to Fanning, the suspect appeared to be holding up his pants, which she said appeared to be undone. Watson then took off, running toward an apartment complex. Fanning and fellow Bangor police Officer Michael Brennan chased Watson on foot down a set of stairs. The chase ended when Watson’s pants “fell completely down around his ankles, causing him to fall down the steps and onto the ground,” the release said.

Police seized more than 2 ounces of cocaine — valued at nearly $7,000 — from Watson, who has been charged with aggravated trafficking in cocaine, driving to endanger, eluding a police officer and three stop sign and red light violations.

Watson, who has a lengthy criminal record in Maine going back to 1988, remained at Penobscot County Jail on Thursday night, unable to make bail set at $7,500 cash, according to a jail official.